"Solar Flexion" is part of an ongoing exploration of what I call “the acrobatics of motherhood,” a visceral meditation on adaptation, endurance, and the absurd grace demanded by care. In this work, the maternal body takes on a doll-like form, her bulges suggesting pregnancy or the multiplicity of anatomy, while merging with protective plant structures—cactus, a plant ubiquitous in my Southern California surroundings. I am drawn to the cactus’s built-in armor, a metaphor for the resilience, vigilance, and strange contortions of the maternal body as it moves through care and protection.